722 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



insufl&cient cover, and is consequently soft. South of the Pittsburgh, 

 Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad, it is usually from five to six feet in 

 thickness in two or three benches. Prof. Stevenson mentions one local- 

 ity in Warren township, in the mine of Mr. J. C. Pickens, where the 

 coal is in four benches, as follows : 



1. Roof coal 2 feet to 2 feet 6 inches. 



2. Clay parting 2 



3. Coal 2 '■ 6 



4. Parting 2} 



5. Coal 1 " 2 



6. Parting 2 



7. Coal 1 " 6 



And in Wells township, at the mine of Mr. Edwards, the proprietor 

 reports the coal to consist of two benches, each five feet in thickness, 

 separated by a clay parting of one feet. 



In quality the coal of No. 8 is more uniform than in structure and 

 thickness. It is everywhere a coking coal, and in many localities can 

 hardly be distinguished from that mined at Pittsburgh. Jt varies, how- 

 ever, considerably in the quantity of sulphur it contains. In some 

 places one of the benches is thickly set with balls or lenticular masses 

 of pyrites, which if permitted to remain in the coal would very much 

 impair its value. They are, however, easily separated in mining, and 

 almost everywhere a good coking and steam coal may be produced from 

 this seam. In a few places, also, it is pure enough to be used for the 

 manufacture of gas. 



The best exposures of Coal No. 8 in Jefierson county are along the 

 Ohio River, near Tiltonville, and in the valleys of Short Creek and Rush 

 Run. Here it is generally from four to six feet in thickness, and lies at 

 a level about half way between the surface of the river and the summits 

 of the hills in the interior. It therefore exhibits continuous lines of out- 

 crop for several miles up those streams, and when they shall be traversed 

 by railroads, coal can be mined a.nd shipped here with great facility. 



It has been remarked above that the limestones associated with No. 8 

 thin out toward the north. In Knox township, where the coal and lime- 

 stones are last seen, the limestone beneath the coal is two and a half 

 feet in thickness, the one above it entirely wanting. At Winter^ville 

 the overlying limestone is reported to be five feet in thickness, that below 

 it six feet, the coal from four to four and a half feet thick. In Belmont 

 county and about Wheeling the upper limestone is from thirty to seventy 

 feet in thickness, the lower from four to thirty feet. The mines where 

 Coal No. 8 is worked in Jefferson county will bo enumerated and described 

 further on. 



